Album Notes

"WARNING: Make sure your feet are unconfined when listening to this disc. Grupo Cha Cha strikes a lovely balance(and a lively one)between meticulously rendered Latin dance music and heartfelt, infectious jazz"--
NEIL TESSER, host of Miles Ahead(Chicago)www.milesaheadjazz.com

Grupo Cha Cha came on the scene two years ago playing mostly private events in the Chicagoland area. Their debut CD, Direcciones, has propelled them to appearances at many Chicago nightclubs and restaurants. They are also currently getting airplay on the Chicago airwaves notably Miles Ahead Jazz 1240AM Weekdays 5-7pm CST and Jazz Tropicale 90.9 FM Sunday nights at 10pm CST. They are looking forward to many more successful and fun engagements. Lise Gilly, band leader and flutist, started out as a classical player and still plays with the Kenosha Symphony.

Lise M. Gilly, a native of Washington, D.C., came to Chicago via Miami in 1994. Ms. Gilly completed her Bachelor of Music, Music Education Major at the University of Miami, Florida, where she graduated with honors in 1993. Upon her arrival in Chicago, she became a music educator in the Chicago Public Schools. In 1996, she founded the classical chamber group, Musica Pacem, and in 2000, she founded a Latin Jazz band, Grupo Cha Cha. Both are successful freelance groups in the Chicagoland area.
Ms. Gilly continued her studies at Roosevelt University where she received a Master of Music, Summa Cum Laude in Flute Performance in 2000. Her major teachers were Jean Berkenstock of the Lyric Opera and the Grant Park Symphony, and Richard Graef, Associate Principal Flute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. While she was studying at Roosevelt, she was also employed as a Band Director in several Chicago public and parochial schools. She was an Associate Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in 1999-2000, and has been a member of the Kenosha Symphony since 1997. Her flute masterclass experience includes Donald Peck, Walfrid Kujala, Bonita Boyd, James Galway and Vincent Lucas. Ms. Gilly has also played saxophone in the local Salsa/Merengue scene playing with such bands as Sylvio Sosa, Merengito and the Ritmo Award winning Carpacho y Su Super Combo.
Ms. Gilly is currently on the staff of Lincoln Park High School in Chicago as the Assistant Conductor of the Band and Orchestra and as a Music Appreciation instructor. She also maintains her active freelance musician career as a sideperson and as a bandleader with her own groups Musica Pacem and Grupo Cha Cha.